Greenville Track Club FREE BIRD 5K

The The Red, White and Blue FREE BIRD 5K presented by the Greenville Track Club has been created to give runners an opportunity to participate/compete while safely maintaining social distancing guidelines. NOTE: THIS EVENT IS INTENDED AS TEMPORARY REPLACEMENT FOR OUR POPULAR JULY 4TH RACE - RED, WHITE AND BLUE SHOES - BUT IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH FURMAN UNIVERSITY (or the Lynrd Skynrd Band) IN ANY WAY.

The FREE BIRD 5K is an exciting new event that combines both virtual races and officially timed races:

VIRTUAL RACE - Runners have the option of running the Virtual Race Course (see Virtual 5K Course page) on their own, anytime before July 4 and recording/submitting their time using Strava, a free smartphone app available for Android and iOS. Please refer to the "VIRTUAL RACE" page on this website for instructions on installing and using Strava for virtual racing, as well as how to submit your Strava recordings for verification.

TIMED RACE - Runners may also elect to run the Timed Race Course (see Timed 5K Course page) using timing performed by the FREE BIRD 5K race official, to be offered on 10 different dates during the months of June and July ( see Timing Schedule below). Timed runners must sign up for a specific timing session, limited to a maximum of 25 runners per session. Awards will be given out for top three overall, masters, grandmasters and age-group categories for the FREE BIRD 5K timed race. Awards will be available for pick up at Run In, 1942 Augusta Street, Greenville, SC 29605 on July 7th. Please refer to the "TIMED RACE" page on this website for complete information.

5K COURSES - Click on "COURSES" from the top menu to see the 5K routes. The Virtual race uses a 5K course in Cleveland Park and the Timed race uses a 5K course in the Overbrook neighborhood, located near GTC headquarters. The Virtual race starts and finishes at Shelter #5 located on the Swamp Rabbit Trail beside the Reedy River. The Timed race starts and finishes at GTC headquarters at 1619 East North Street. Starting on Friday May 22, we will mark the Virtual race course with white tape and directional arrows at key turns. However, the markings are not guaranteed to stay in place so please familiarize yourself with the online map and/or print out the PDF version available on the "COURSE MAP" page.

ALL PARTICIPANTS RECEIVE A COLLECTIBLE STAINLESS STEEL DOG TAG, STAMPED WITH THE "FREE BIRD 5K" LOGO. Virtual Race participants may pick up their dog tag at RUN IN, 1942 Augusta Street, Greenville, 29605 after June 21st. Officially timed participants will receive their dog tag (with their bib) at the timing sessions.

ANSWER TO OUR #1 QUESTION: Yes! You may sign up for both the virtual race and the timed race and more than one timing session if you like. We don't care how many times you race, just get out there and post your best time!

PRICING DETAILS:
Timing Sessions #1, #2 , #3 and #4 are $15. 
Timing Sessions #5, #6, #7 and #8 are $17 before June 21 and $18 thereafter.
Timing Sessions #9 and #10 are $19 before June 21 and $20 thereafter.
The Virtual Race is $10 before June 21, $12 between June 21 and July 1, and $14 thereafter.
Note: The reason for the timed race price discrepancy is to promote the earlier sessions, thereby avoiding any "overcrowding" in the later sessions.

Registration is now open, and participants may start running the course using the virtual race option immediately! We will update the virtual race standings on a daily basis.